Fluorinated carbon (or Carbon Fluoride; hereinafter, CFx) has long been used in a CFx/Li primary battery as a Cathode. (See e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 3,536,532 to Watanabe.) It is a stable material; therefore, batteries containing a CFx cathode have low self-discharge rates and are stable over a wide range of temperatures. However, the material has relatively low electrical conductivity requiring a high amount of conductive additive such as carbon to comprise an electrode. Typically, a CFx electrode contains about 10 wt % of acetylene black (or other conductive additive), reducing a battery's volume energy density significantly.
The present invention fundamentally involves coating or depositing on the CFx particles a conductive material by means of vapor deposition, such as sputtering, laser ablation, or similar processes. This significantly reduces the amount of conductive additive, improves a CFx cathode's volume energy density, improves CFx's high rate discharge capability, and exhibits more stable electrical characteristics.